The present invention relates to the management of one or more peripheral devices shared by one or more of stations (e.g., computers).
Computers typically have peripheral devices (e.g., printers, scanners, etc.) interconnected to the computers via the network. The peripheral devices perform tasks/jobs at the request of the computers.
In order to collect current information about the status of a peripheral device, a computer may use a management application. The application may communicate with the peripheral devices via a communication protocol, such as Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). Alternative communication protocols may also be used.
In the case of a printer, one type of information collected by the management application typically includes whether an interrupt has occurred at the printer, such as the printer being out of paper, out of ink, a paper jam occurring, etc. The occurrence of an interrupt is sometimes referred to as an alert.
By discovering that an alert has occurred, an operator of a computer interconnected to the peripheral device may take steps to resolve the interrupt to allow the routine operations of the peripheral device to resume. Alternatively, a computer interconnected with the printer may be able to resolve the alert without the intervention of an operator.
The management applications may collect status information (i.e., determine if an interrupt has occurred) from the peripheral device by periodically sending an inquiry to (i.e. polling) each device, in order to collect information regarding the device. The period of time between requests/polls is known as the polling interval.
When a management application uses polling to collect information regarding a peripheral device, there are tradeoffs. For example, by using shorter intervals between polling inquiries (i.e., more frequently polling) less time will pass before an alert is discovered. However, the more frequent polling is provided at the cost of increased network traffic and the additional consumption of processing resources.
In addition, the need to monitor the status and the settings of a peripheral device typically increases when the peripheral device is in the process of performing a job. However, if the peripheral device is sitting idle, the need to monitor the peripheral device decreases (as should the frequency of polling the peripheral device.)
The prior art, however, provides fixed algorithms for polling peripheral devices without allowing the frequency of polling the peripheral device to vary as the need to monitor the peripheral device varies. Therefore, a need exists for adjusting the rate of polling peripheral devices as the need to monitor the peripheral device changes.
The present invention provides method and apparatus for adjusting an interval of polling a peripheral device (e.g., a printer) based on a change in the working status of the peripheral device. In one embodiment of the present invention, if the peripheral device being monitored is in the process of performing a job or has experienced an interrupt/alert, the length of the polling intervals may be shortened to provide increased monitoring of the peripheral device. If the peripheral device is idle, the length of the polling intervals may be longer to provide less monitoring of the peripheral device.